'Black women are happier with body image'

BLACK WOMEN are said to be more satisfied with their body image than white women, a new study has shown.

The survey, conducted by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that although black women tend to be heavier than their white counterparts, they appear to have higher levels of self-esteem.

A staggering 66 percent of black women polled said they had high self-esteem regarding their body images, while just 41 per cent of white women said the same.

"Black women have conceptions of beauty that are not just tied to the accident of how you look as a consequence of your genes," Imani Perry, professor of interdisciplinary classes in African American studies at Princeton, told the newspaper.

She added: "They include style, grooming, how you present and carry yourself, and “how you put yourself together, which I think generally speaks to the fact that we have a much broader and deeper conception of beauty."

The polls also showed that 28 percent of black women say that being physically attractive is "very important," compared with 11 percent of white women.